China is bearing the brunt of the consequences of its rapid industrial development:it is today the country where the mortality rate linked to air pollution is the highest according to the World Health Organization ( WHO). The institution revealed that air pollution kills some 3 million people each year on earth, as reported by The Guardian, and things are not improving. Faced with the threat, Chinese scientists decided to act:an experimental tower was erected in the city of Xi'an, located in the center of the country, with the aim of purifying the air locally. And the first results are conclusive according to Cao Junji, a researcher who worked on the project. He reports to South China Morning Post that the 100-meter high building has improved air quality over an area of 10 square kilometers thanks to the production of 10 million cubic meters of healthy air. Revolutionary!
The system works thanks to the presence of greenhouses arranged at the foot of the tower which cover the equivalent of half of a football field. These suck in the polluted air which is then heated with solar energy. The hot air rises up the tower, where it is filtered through several “cleaning” filters. Such activity is particularly welcome in winter in Xi'an, a season when air pollution levels are very high due to the coal-fired heating system used in almost the entire city. Developed in 2015 then built in 2017, this tower, which embodies environmental progress, should make its official conclusions in March 2018. We must therefore be patient and cross our fingers so that its action turns out to live up to expectations... Who knows, perhaps similar constructions will flourish all over the globe in the coming decades!
